Apparatus for assembling articles



Feb. 12, 1946. I

L. A. BARTELH EIM ETAL APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING ARTICLES nvvmvroes L. 4. 892754 HEIM t. C. Nwmus ATTORNEY 12, 9 L. A. BARTELHEIM ETAL 2,394,837

APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING ARTICLES I Filed Feb. 24, 1945 e Sheets-Sheet 2 //v VEN TORS- t L. H. BHETEL HEIM E. C. NEu/mus arms/v5) Feb. 12, 1946. L. A. BARTELHEI'M HAL 2,394,837

APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING ARTICLES Filed Feb. 24, 1945 6 Sheets-Sheet s lNVENTOES a L.H.BHRTELHE/M 6 E. C. NEu/mus 57% ATTORNEY L. A. BARTELHE IM ETAL 94,837

APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING' ARTICLES Feb; 12, 1946.

Filed Feb. '24, 1943 e Shets-Sheet 5 & 1%

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AI PARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING ARTICLES I Filed Feb. 24.

6 Sheeis-Sheet 6 IHI H H l. a.

' LABAETELHs/M E C. New-mus HTTOENEK Patented Feb. 12, 1946 2,394,837 APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING ARTICLES Leland A. Bartelheim, Berwyn, and Elmer C. Neuhaus, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 24, 1943, Serial No. 476,950

Claims.

This invention relates to an apparatus for assembling articles, and more particularly to an apparatus for attaching electrical terminals to insulators. 7

Objects of the invention are to provide an improved, inexpensive and eflicient'method and apparatus for attaching articles, such as electrical terminals and the like, to sheets or cards of insulating material.

In accordance with the above objects, one embodiment of the invention contemplates the provision of an apparatus for attaching electrical terminals to cards or sheets of insulating material, in which the terminals are sheared from an intermittently advanced continuous strip of interconnected terminals by means of cooperating punch and die members and are transferred by the shearing punch to alower level where they are superposed upon dial fed insulator cards, after which the terminals are attached to the cards by first perforating aligned holes in the terminals and cards and then drawing an eyelet around the holes in the terminals and simultaneously pressing the eyelets into the cards to attach the terminals to the cards. 1

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan sectional view of an apparatus embodying the invention, the section being taken along a line just belowthe elevated position of the shearing punch;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on line 33' of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6. is a fragmentary vertical section on line 5-6 of Fig. 3, but with the shearing punch shown in its lowermost position;

Figs. 7 and 8 are enlarged detail sections of the punch and die members; 7

Fig. 9 is aplan view of an insulator card having a plurality of terminals attached thereto by the method and apparatus of the invention;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged crosssectional view on line Ill-l0 ofFig.9;

Fig. 11 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section on line I l--l I of Fig. 1, and V Fig. 12 is a fragmentary vertical section on line l2'-'-I2 of Fig. 11. I I 7 Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated in Fig. 9 an arcuate shaped sheet or card 20 of insulating material having a plurality of electrical terminals 2|, 2| attached thereto by the method and apparatus of the present invention.

" The terminals are arranged radially of the insulator card and each terminal is attached to the card by means of two tubular eyelets 22, 22 which are formed integral with the terminal and extend into the insulator card, as shown in Fig. 10. A plurality of these so-called terminal cards may be stacked and. assembled in the usual manner to form banks of terminals, such as are employed in telephone systems. A

The apparatus illustrated in the drawings is adapted to attach the terminals to the insulator cards, and comprises a pair of rotary dials or perforating die members 25, 25 of circular form,

each of which is rotatably mounted on a vertical post 26, as best shown in Fig, 3. The two posts 26 are attached to a die block 21 which, in turn, is fixed to the stationary bed. 28 of a conventional punch press, only a portion of which is shown.

Above the dials 25 there is provided a shearing die plate 30, the forward end of which is supported on and secured to the posts 26 while its rear end is supported on and secured to a spacer block 32 fixed to the bed of the press. The die plate is formed with two shearing slots 34-34 (Figs. 1 and 3), one above each rotary die plate 25, and it will be noted that these shearing die slots are of a shape conforming to the shape of the terminals 2 I. For each shearing die slot there is provided a cooperating shearing punch 35, and the two shearing punches are attached to a shearing punch holder '31 which is carried by a plurality of headed suspension bolts 38, 38 mounted in a perforating punch supporting plate 39, the latter being secured in the usual manner to the reciprocatory ram 40 of the press.

The bolts 38 are vertically slidable in the per- I forating punch plate 39 so that the latter is capable of a limited amount of downward movement relative to the shearing punches 35 for the purpose hereinafter described. Interposed between the perforating punch plate 39 and the shearing punch holder 31 are a plurality of heavy coil springs 42, 42 (Figs. 2 and 3), one around each of the suspension bolts 38. Each of the shearing punches 35 isv provided with two vertical bores adapted to slidably receive a pair of perforating and drawing punches 45- 45, which are fixed to the punch supporting plate 35. For cooperating with these punches, the rotary die members 25 are formed with two circular series of punch receiving apertures 46, 46, which are arranged in pairs with the two apertures of each pair disposed in radial alignment with and spaced apart to conform to the spacing between the cooperating perforating punches. The angular spacing between adjacent pairs of punch receiving apertures should conform to the angular spacing between adjacent terminals on the completed terminal card. This is accomplished in the illustrated embodiment of the invention by providing 28 equidistantly spaced pairs of punch receiving apertures in each of the rotary die members, whereby the angular spacing between adjacent pairs of apertures is approximately 12.86 and conforms exactly to the angular spacing between adjacent terminals on the completed terminal card. It should be noted that only ten terminals 2| are fixed to each card 29 and the two cards 29 are carried on each-of the die members 25, thus leaving eight pairs of punchreceiving apertures which are not positioned beneath the cards. The purpose of this arrange? ment will become apparent as the description progresses.

Mechanism is provided for intermittently feeding two strips 48-48 of interconnected terminals 2| across the upper surface of the shearing die plate 30, so that the terminals are presented, one at a time, underneath each shearing punch. This terminal feeding mechanism comprises a horizontal slide 49 (Fig. 5) upon which four pairs of feed fingers 5959 are pivotally mounted, two pairs for each strip of terminals. The terminal strip engaging tips of these feed fingers engage notches 5| and 52 (Fig. '1) in the strip between adjacent terminals so that when the slide 49 is moved forwardly, the strip of terminals is advanced by the feed fingers between guide bars 53 and 54 on shearing die plate 30 to present the next terminal to the shearing punch. Spring pressed holding pawls 55, 55 cooperate with the notches 5| and 52 to prevent backward movement of the strip of terminals when the feed slide 49 is retracted.

Upon retraction of the feed slide, the feed fingers 50 move counter-clockwise as they are retracted from the notches 5| and 52 in the strip of terminals, and as the feed slide arrives at the end of its backward movement, the feed fingers are forced into engagement with succeeding notches by leaf springs 5S56 (Fig. 5)

The required reciprocatory motion is imparted to the feed slide 49 by a cam bar 59 (Figs. 1, 2'

and 4.) which is attached to and movable with the punch carrying plate 39. This bar cam slidably engages a cam slot 51 in the feed slide, and it will be understood that the cam bar and slot are designed to impart the required reciprocatory motion to the feed slide in synchronism with the operation of the shearing punches. Above the feed slide 49 there are provided two stationary horizontalplates 59-59 over which the two strips of terminals are advanced, and above these plates 2. cover plate 69 is provided which is undercut to provide guideways for the strips of terminals, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 11. The plates 59 are formed with suitable slots through which the feed fingers 59 project to engage the strips of termials, and cover plate 60 is formed with suitable slots withinwhich the hOldiIlg pawls 55 are pivotallymounted. Both plates are slotted for the free passage therethrough of the feed slide operating bar cam 58. e

The mechanism for ,periodicallyindexing the two perforating dies 25 comprises a pair of reci rocatory pawls 5I6| (Fig. 4), one for each die member. These pawls are pivotally mounted on a horizontal slide 62 and are urged by a spring plunger 63 into driving engagement with ratchet wheels 65-65 secured to or formed integral with the rotary die members. The required reciprocatory motion is imparted to the slide 62 by means of a bar cam 61 which is attached to and movable with the punch carrying plate 39. The bar cam 61 cooperates with a cam slot 68 in the indexing slide to impart the required indexing motion to the indexing slide for indexing the two rotary die members 25 one twenty-eighth 0/28) of a revolution during each cycle of operation of the press, whereby the series of pairs of die apertures -46 are indexed step-by-step into alignment with the perforating and drawing punches 45.

Associated with each of the die members is a spring. pressed holding pawl 19 (Fig. 4) which cooperates with the ratchet wheel65 to prevent rotation of the die member during the perforating and drawing operations. Prior to each indexing operation, each of the holding pawls is retracted by means of a bar cam 12 (Figs. 4, 11 and 12) pivotally suspended from the punch plate 39. The bar cam is provided with a cam projection 14 having a tapered surface 15 (Fig. 11) which cooperates with a tapered surface 16 on the holding pawl to swing the bar cam outwardly as the punches descend, whereby the cam projection M is permitted to slide into position below the holding pawl, after which the bar cam swings inwardly under the force of a compressed coil sprin 11. During the upward movement of the punches, the bar cams 12 also move upwardly and the holding pawls 19 are retracted due to the sliding engagement between tapered cam surfaces 1'8 on cam projections 14 and tapered cam surfaces 19 on holding pawls 10, as best shown in Fig. 12.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention the insulator cards are manually placed upon the rotary die members 25, each of which is provided with two diametrically opposed pairs of pilot pins 82, 82 for cooperating with pilot holes 83, B3 in the insulator cards to accurately position and hold the insulator cards on the die members. As shown in Fig. 4, each die member 25 accommodates two insulator cards, one of which is illustrated inbroken lines. Each insulator card embraces ten pairs of perforating die apertures 45, thus leaving two diametrically opposed sets of four pairs of die apertures 46 which constitute idle positions on the rotary die members. During the indexing periods in which these idle positions are indexed to the punching positions, the feed of the strips of terminals is interrupted by a skip-feed mechanism which is best shown in Fig. 5. This mechanism comprises a plurality of vertical plungers 85, 96, one below each feed finger 59. These plungers rest on a slide 8! which is provided with depressions 88, 88 on its upper surface for receiving the plungers when the slide is in its retracted position, as shown in Fig. 5. However, when the slide 81 is shifted toward the right (Fig. 5), the plungers 89 are elevated by cam surfaces 89 of the slide, and the plungers in turn rock the feed fingers counter-clockwise, thus rendering them inefiective for engaging and feeding the strips of terminals.

As shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 11, two slides 81 are provided, one for. each set of feed fingers 59. The tail ends of the two slides are interconnected by a cross bar 90 which is connected intermediate its ends to a plunger 92 of an'electrical solear sin ?v noid 93. The energizing circuit of this solenoid is controlled by a micro-switch 94 (Fig. 1) having an operating lever 95 equipped with a roller 96 which rides on theperiphery of one of the rotary die members 25. Two diametrically opposed recesses 9l-9l are provided on the periphery of this die member, and it will be noted that these recesses are disposed so that the microswitch roller 96 engages one or the other of the recesses during the periods in which the idle positions on the rotary die members are being indexed to the punching positions. When the micro-switch roller engages one of the recesses, the micro-switch closes, thus energizing the solenoid 93, whereupon it shifts the slides 81 toward the left (Fig. thus rendering the feed fingers 50 ineffective in the manner described above. As the first pairs of each series of perforating positions on the rotary die members approach the punching positions, the micro-switch is opened by one of the unnotched peripheral portions of the rotary die member, whereupon compressed coil springs 95 retract the slides to their original positions.

In the operation of the apparatus, two strips 48 of terminals, only one of which is shown in Fig. l, are placed upon horizontal plates 59 and shearing die plate 30 with the first terminal of each strip in alignment with one of the shearing punches 35, and an insulator card 20 is placed in position on each of the rotary die members 25. The operation of the apparatus is then started, and as the ram 40 descends, shearing punches 25 are carried downwardly and caused to shear the first terminals from the two strips thereof and force the severed terminals downwardly through shearing die apertures 34 to the upper surface of the insulator cards 29 on rotary die members 25, as shown in Fig. 6. Spring pressed pilot pins 96-436 on shearing punches 25 cooperate with pilot holes 91-9! in the terminals to guide them while they are transferred to the lower level;

With the severed terminals clamped to the insulator cards by the shearing punches under the force of springs 42, further downward movement of the ram advances the perforating punches 45 through the shearing punches, whereby aligned holes are perforated in the terminals and insulator cards, as shown in Fig. '7, after which tubular eyelets 22 are drawn from the metal surrounding the holes in the terminals by tapered shoulders 98-98 on the perforating punches and, simultaneously therewith, the tubular eyelets are forced into the insulator cards, as shown in Fig. 8, thus securing the terminals to the cards. As the tubular eyelets are forced into the insulator cards, annular slugs 99, 99 are punched out of I the insulator cards, and these slugs together with the previously perforated slugs I05 and till (Fig. '7) drop through the perforating die apertures 46 into a suitable scrap collecting receptacle (not shown). It will be noted that the perforating die apertures 46 are substantially larger than the perforating end portions of the punches in order to permit the drawing of the eyelets 22 and the punching out and ejection of the annular slugs 99.

From its lowermost position, in which the perforating punches are positioned, as shown in Fig. 8, the ram moves upwardly to its elevated position to complete a cycle of operation of the apparatus. During each cycle of operation of the apparatus, the rotary die members 25 are indexed through one twenty-eighth & of a revolution, as described above, and the two strips of terminals are advanced just sufliciently to align the next'terminals with the shearing punches,- except during the periods in which the feed fingers 50 are rendered ineffective by slide 8'1, as

described above. During such periods, the completed terminal cards are removed from the rotary die members and fresh insulator cards are inserted in their place.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments thereof herein illustrated and described, but is capable of other applications within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for attaching a terminal to a sheet of insulating material, comprising means for supporting said insulating sheet at one level, a shearing punch for punching out a terminal from a strip of material disposed at a second level and simultaneously transferring and clamping said terminal to said insulating sheet, a perforating punch slidable within said shearing punch for punching aligned holes in said terminal and insulating sheet, and means on said perforating punch for forming an integral eyelet around said hole in said terminal and simultaneously forcing said eyelet into the hole in said insulating sheet.

2. An apparatus for attaching terminal members to insulators which comprises means for sup porting an insulator at a predetermined level, means for supporting a strip of terminal material at another level parallel to the level of the insulator, means for imparting arcuate step-bystep movement to the insulator while maintaining it in said predetermined plane, means for imparting step-by-step movement to the strip of terminal material simultaneously with the imparting of step-by-step movement to the insulator, and means effective intermediate movements of said insulator and strip comprising means for in a single stroke shearing a terminal from the strip and transferring the sheared terminal in a straight line to damping engagement v with the insulator, means slidably associated with projecting the said extension into the aperture of the insulator, and for expanding said extension into engagement with the wall of the perforation in the insulator.

3. An apparatus for attaching a terminal to a sheet of insulating material comprising means for supporting said insulating sheet at one level,

a shearing punch for punching out a terminal from a strip of material disposed at a second level and simultaneously transferring and clamping said terminal to said sheet of insulating material, a perforating punch slidable within said shearing punch having an extending reduced portion for punching aligned holes in said terminal and sheet of insulating material, and a tapering shoulder on said perforating punch extending from the reduced portion to an enlarged portion thereof for simultaneously punching an annular section from the sheet of insulating material and extruding a tubular extension out of the terminal into gripping engagement with the wall formed in the sheet of insulating material by punching the annular section therefrom.

4. An apparatus for attaching terminals to a sheet of insulating material including a shearing punch for shearing a terminal from a strip of terminal material, a die cooperating with said shearing punch, a perforating punch slidable in said shearing punch, a die cooperating With the perforating punch and positioned parallel to the shearing punch completely Within the projected outline of the shearing punch, and a forming area on the perforating punch for cooperating with the perforating punch die to shear a, section from the sheet of insulating material and deform a portion of the terminal into gripping engagement with the Walls left by the section removed from the sheet of insulating material.

5. An apparatus for attaching terminals to a sheet of insulating material comprising a shearing punch for shearing a terminal from a strip of terminal material, a die in alignment with and cooperating with said shearing punch, a perforating punch slidable in said shearing punch, a die of appreciably larger diameter than the outside diameter of the perforating punch to cooperate With the perforating punch and positioned parallel to and within the projected outline of the shearing punch, and a tapering surface formed on the perforating punch for foreing a ring of material out of the sheet of insulating material and for extruding a tubular projection of the terminal into gripping engagement with the walls formed by punching the ring from the insulating material.

LELAND A. BARTELHEIM.

ELMER. C. NEUHAUS. 

